Door-control mechanisms for hopper cars



Feb. 25, 1964 F. G. NOVI-:LLI

DOOR-CONTROL MECHANISMS FOR HOPPER CARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. l5, 1961 INVENTOR.

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F. G. NovELLl 3,122,

DOOR-CONTROL MECHANIsMs FOR HOPPER CARS Filed Aug. l5, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 25, 1964 3 3 5 .a 2 3 W 0 M R. M i 1k/o0 f/ m mm W vavnrv'lift.nntifnnnneHHHHHm j J 7a G.. O. f W Wm b 3 d v v m 7A VVHH 7./ .n. m 3 a.. VA 4 H/ 0) Lw w l W 3 j @im 4 3 I l HH .||l Q 5 f 3 3 r 4, 6N .HHWIWHJ...nuuvxf y 0 j 2dr/. f@ 2 United States Patent O 3,122,106 DOR-CONTRGL MECHANISMS FOR HOPPER CARS Frank G. Noveili, 4444 Main St., Skokie, Ill. Filed Aug. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 131,595 3 Claims. (Cl. 10S-240) My invention relates to railway cars of the hopper type, which carry coal, sand, aggregates and other loose materials adapted to be discharged from the bottom, and more particularly to the Compact Track Ballaster covered in my co-pending application filed on October 7, 1960, under Serial No. 61,112. It is customary to discharge material from hopper cars fully by a continuous ow when the doors have been opened. However, in the discharge of ballast it is important to limit the flow according to the amount of ballast desired as the car moves along the track. It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a mechanism which controls the extent to which the discharge doors are opened and the rate of ballast flow accordingly.

Since ballast materials are heavy, it is a further object of the invention to include a hydraulic power unit in the door-control mechanism, in order that the doors may be fully or partly closed at will, despite the resistance offered by the weight of the material.

Another object is to provide dual drive mechanisms along the sides of the car for actuating the ends of the doors, with an equalizing element between such mechanisrns to render the action thereof uniform and simultaneous.

A still further object is to concentrate the hydraulic power unit in a casing at one end of the car, where the unit will be out of the way in all respects.

Another object is to render the control mechanism self-powered by including manually operated means in the casing for actuating the hydraulic unit.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. l is a side elevation of the ballaster, with the doors closed;

FIG. 2 is an interior section of the middle portion of FIG. l, showing the doors open;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged duplicate of a door-operating mechanism in the middle portion of FIG. l, partly in section;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 showing the car structure in the region of one side wall of the ballaster; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic View of a typical manual control for the hydraulic operation of the ballaster doors.

Referring specically to the drawings, 10 indicates the ballaster, which is in the nature of a vehicle similar to a hopper car. Thus, the ballaster has upright end walls 11, bottom sections 12 inclined from the ends, and a medial section 13 of gable form. While material contained in the ballaster is primarily guided toward the bottom by the inclined sections 12, the related walls 14 and 15 of the medial section 13 also contribute to concentrate the load in a downward direction, the walls 14 and 15 having openings 14a and 15a closed by doors 17 hinged at the top as indicated at 13. The doors are normally in closed positions, but may be swung down to open positions, as indicated in FIG. 2.

Referring to the control means for the doors 17, it is noted in FIGS. l and 4 that the doors have bottom pins 17a for connecting them to a medial plate 27 by means of a pair of links 28. The links are pivoted to a rivet 27a of the plate 27 at their inner ends, one link on the outer side and the other on the inner side. 3, 4 and 5 the plate is shown in a low position Where it l0 In FIGS. 1,

keeps the doors closed by the very wide spread of the links 28. However, when the plate 21 is raised to the position indicated by full lines in FIG. 2 and dotted lines in FIG. 4, the links are gathered by the downswing of the doors to the position shown in FIG. 2, the doors now being fully open.

The vertical movement of the plate 27 is induced by a long, rectangular driving bar 30 which is slidable in a casing 32 secured to the related side wall 10 of the ballaster by suitable means, such as welded lugs 32a. The casing has companion wings 33 projecting from its sides to form shields for a vertical cylinder 35 secured to the casing. The cylinder is a double-acting hydraulic motor,` having an upper port at 35a, a lower port at 35h, a piston 37 and a rod 37a depending from the latter to a point above the plate 27. Here the piston rod is secured-by lock nuts 37b or other suitable means-to a side lug 30a of the driving bar 30; and the lower end of the latter is welded to the upper portion of the plate 27 with the piston 37 down-according to full lines in FIG. 4-and acts through the driving bar 30, the plate 27 and the links 28 to keep the doors 17 closed. However, when the piston is driven to the upward limit indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 4, the doors 17 are caused to open fully, as previously outlined. The drive to open and close the doors is not assumed directly by the piston rod, as that would require the motor 35 to be located at a low level, where dust and particles rising from the ballast material would soon clog and impair the hydraulic motor.

The door-operating mechanism just described extends to the doors 17 from one side of the ballaster, and is duplicated on the other side thereof. However, since the two hydraulic motors may not act in unison because of a fluid lag in one or the other of the motor cylinders, positive means are provided to insure the simultaneous drive of the doors at both sides of the ballaster. Such means originate with a cross-tube 4t) nested and welded into the gable section 13 from below, as indicated by full lines in FIGS. 2 and 5. The cross-tube serves as a journal for a long shaft 42 whose ends carry discs 43 next outside the ballaster side walls, as seen in FIG. 3. A link 45 connects the lower part of each disc with the related plate 27. The door drives are thus connected positively for joint action; and the provision of the discs 43 is to furnish wide bearing surfaces and limits to offset angular stresses on the shaft 42.

The hydraulic connections for the motor 35 comprise upper and lower pipes 47 and 48 designed to circulate an oil iluid. Any suitable arrangement-manually or power-operated-to actuate the piston 37 for opening or closing the doors 17 as described above may be employed; and the advantage of the double-acting motor is that the doors may be set to different opening degrees where a partial ilow of the ballast material is desired. Also, such a motor, when operated hydraulically, may furnish suiiicient power to close the doors 17 while still under a heavy load of ballast material. The door control means preferred herein is a manual type for purposes of simplicity and easy portability. Thus, FIG. 6 shows the units which may be employed in such a type of control means wherein a hand lever 50 may be moved from a vertical position to induce an up-stroke or a downstroke in the motor 35 after a crank-handle 52 is operated to create oil pressure. The control means may be housed compactly in a casing 25 mounted at one end of the ballaster, such casing having a side door 25a for convenient access to the lever 50 and crank handle 52. Since no novelty is claimed for the hydraulic system of the ballaster, no further description of its construction is deemed necessary.

I claim:

l. A vehicle having a body formed with a gable in its mi, bottom, the sides of the gable having openings, a pair of doors hinged at the top in the gable and closing said openings when swung widely apart, and means on each side of the body to swing the doors toward and from each other to positions maintaining different opening degrees, said means including a vertical driving bar reoiprocable along said body, a plate carried by the lower end of each driving bar, links between the plates and the doors, rigid tie means crosswise of said body, and connecting means endwise of said tie means linking said tie means to said plates.

2. A vehicle having a body formed with a gable in its bottom, the sides of the gable having openings, a pair of doors hinged at the hop in the gable and closing said openings when swung widely apart, and means on each side of the body to swing the doors toward and from each other to positions maintaining different opening degrees, said means including a vertical driving bar reciprocable along said body, a plate carried by the lower end of the driving bar, links between the plates and the doors, and tie means to make the driving oars operate in unison, Asaid tie means comprising a cross-shaft journaled between the sides of the body, an external element carried rigidly by the ends of the cross-shaft, and links between the plates and said external elements.

3. A vehicle having a body formed with a gable in its bottom, the sides of the gable having openings, a pair of doors hinged at the top in the gable and closing said openings when swung widely apart, and means on each side of the body to swing the doors toward and from each other to positions maintaining different opening degrees, said means including a Vertical driving bar reciprocable along said body, a plate carried by the lower end of the driving bar, links between the plates and the doors, and tie means to make the driving bars operate in unison, said tie means comprising a cross-shaft journaled between the sides of the body, discs carried rigidly by the ends of the cross-shaft alongside said body sides, and links between the plates and the dises.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,931 Jepson Apr. 19, 1904 1,297,356 .Tunghanns Mar. 18, 1919 1,928,305 Blakesley Sept. 26, 1933 2,058,530 Thomas Oct. 27, 1936 2,723,878 Rockwell Nov. 15, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 215,647 Australia June 23, 1958 569,890 Canada Feb. 3, 1959 

1. A VEHICLE HAVING A BODY FORMED WITH A GABLE IN ITS BOTTOM, THE SIDES OF THE GABLE HAVING OPENINGS, A PAIR OF DOORS HINGED AT THE TOP IN THE GABLE AND CLOSING SAID OPENINGS WHEN SWUNG WIDELY APART, AND MEANS ON EACH SIDE OF THE BODY TO SWING THE DOORS TOWARD AND FROM EACH OTHER TO POSITIONS MAINTAINING DIFFERENT OPENING DEGREES, SAID MEANS INCLUDING A VERTICAL DRIVING BAR RECIPROCABLE ALONG SAID BODY, A PLATE CARRIED BY THE LOWER END OF EACH DRIVING BAR, LINKS BETWEEN THE PLATES AND THE 